Mobile access points (APs) are WiFi APs that are constantly on the move, which include MiFi, 802.11G wireless pocket router/AP, Apple AirPort Express Base Station and other travel routers, sometimes, the smart-phones and laptops can also serve as travel access points. If these APs are stored in a WiFi AP database, given the mobility nature of these APs, they can greatly affect the positioning performance of WiFi mobile users, since these APs may be used as anchor or reference point to calculate the mobile client's position.
One way to update the WiFi AP database is through crowdsourcing, where AP data sets may be collected from a plurality of mobile devices and then uploaded to a server. However, some conventional crowdsourcing methods may not control the crowdsourcing data that may be sent from the mobile clients to the server. As a result, these conventional crowdsourcing methods may create excessive data for upload to the server and may require extra processing and storage at the server. In addition, these conventional crowdsourcing methods may use valuable bandwidth and consume battery power, which in turn may adversely impact user experience of the mobile devices.
Therefore, there is a need for methods and devices for processing of access point crowdsourcing data that can address the above issues.